In a slight departure from my usual kind of posts (if I can claim to have a 'usual kind of post' after only three of them) I thought I'd give a quick mention to another gamebook blogger called Stuart Lloyd. Despite already being a rather prolific blogger he decided that he'd do something called the 'April A to Z' and make one post (or several!) every day of the month. This involved interviewing everyone involved in the gamebook hobby that he could get his hands on, which has led to a bucketload of extremely interesting insights from major players in the industry and hobbyists alike.
(This is of course nothing at all to do with the fact that my interview was posted today...)
Visit his blog here: http://virtualfantasies.blogspot.co.uk/
Friday, 20 April 2012
Sunday, 15 April 2012
Fighting Fantasy #3 - The Forest of Doom
Author: Ian
Livingstone
Illustrator: Malcolm
Barter
Published: 1983
Level of previous
knowledge: Quite low for this one. I remember the quest items and that one
of them was in a tomb of some kind, but almost nothing else. Except there’s a
forest.
Plot summary: The plot is a bit thin, to be honest. I’m an apparently
bloodthirsty adventurer, interested in nothing more than battle and wealth. A
dying dwarf passes
his quest on to me – to fetch an ancient hammer which, for some reason, is
hidden somewhere in Darkwood Forest, and return it to Gillibran, the Lord of
Stonebridge. Sure, why not?
Rules: Standard rules – nothing fancy here.
Adventure Log:
Attempt #1
Stats rolled: SKILL
11, STAMINA 16, LUCK 10
Nice stats, so I didn’t anticipate any STAMINA problems. I
chose to start with the Potion of Luck, just in case.
So off I went, taking my newly-acquired gold to Yaztromo’s
tower, in search of magical items to protect me against the creatures of the
forest. Being a seasoned adventurer I was somewhat sceptical as to whether I
needed such assistance, but it couldn’t hurt to look. Upon arrival I was
greeted by the grumpy wizard and followed him inside, resisting the immediate
urge to attack him and steal all his stuff (a seasoned adventurer knows that
this almost never
works).
I purchased the following items: Potion of Healing, Potion of
Stillness, Potion of Anti-Poison, Holy Water, Ring of Light, Boots of Leaping,
Net of Entanglement, Armband of Strength, Glove of Missile Dexterity, Headband
of Concentration, Nose Filters.
Yaztromo then supplied some further information regarding my
quest. Apparently the hammer I’m looking for was dropped into the forest and
found by two goblins, who went their separate ways, each with a separate part
of the hammer. Why they did this, or who witnessed the event, is a mystery.
Taking my leave of the crotchety wizard, I marched into the
forest and was presented with several directional choices with no indication of
what might lay down each path. Choosing at random, I walked for a while before
finding a wooden hut in a small clearing. I was already bored by this point, so
I peered through the window in a perfectly innocent
manner. Inside I saw an old woman being attended by a hunchbacked
servant. Assuming her to be some kind of evil witch (good guys tend not to
employ hunchbacks) I entered the hut with the intention of teaching her a
lesson, or at least stealing all her stuff. I’m not completely unmerciful,
however, and first attempted to engage her in conversation, to give her a
chance to atone for all her evil deeds. She seemed to find this amusing, and
laughed at me while the book informed me that ‘she is an evil woman’ and
deducted a LUCK point. Somewhat confused by this (maybe her laugh put some kind
of curse on me?) I drew my sword and she reacted by pulling some flowers out of
a drawer and rubbing petals on her hands. Like any good, seasoned adventurer, I
thought “Let’s just see where she’s going with this…” and procrastinated while
the room filled with an odd smell and my vision started to swim. Fortunately my
Headband of Concentration saved me from a fragrant death, and I recovered my
wits in time to avoid a chair
shot from the hunchbacked minion. Sadly the witch turned into a bat and
escaped, so I was left alone with the now sobbing creature while I searched the
hut for anything of value. A rummage through the books turned up a necklace
called the Eye of Amber along with a parchment suggesting that the item could
be used to force someone to tell nothing but the truth.
Pushing on through the forest, I noticed a large hole in a
tree on the side of the path. Of course, I couldn’t possibly pass by without reaching in
for a feel around. I was rewarded with a bite on the arm from some unidentified
critter and a bronze helmet, which turned out to be magical. Why such an object
was left in a tree trunk for anyone to find I’ve no idea, but I’m sure the
story would be a fascinating one.
Coming to another junction, I chose a direction again at
random, before arriving at another where I was informed that I decided to
ignore one of the paths and head north
instead. On the side of the path I saw an old oak chair upon which I was
offered the opportunity to sit – I could imagine no benefit to doing so,
however, so I passed by without a second glance. Before long my peaceful walk
was rudely interrupted by an unfriendly boar which helpfully ran into my sword
and collapsed in a heap. Denied the opportunity to make bacon sandwiches, I
stole its nose ring and continued on my way.
Coming to a shallow river, I chose to wade across rather
than trust the stepping stones. This decision backfired, however, when an eel
started nipping at my leg. Again I defeated my mighty adversary without injury
and clambered out of the river, then set up camp for the night. My sleep was
interrupted by three vampire bats, which too met their doom at the blade of my
sword. Feeling quite invincible by this point, I continued my journey the next
morning with optimism. Unfortunately this didn’t last, as after a couple of
turnings I blundered straight into a pit trap. I avoided serious injury though,
and I had my Boots of Leaping handy, so escaping the pit was simplicity itself.
Soon I found a rock with a sword sticking out of it. Mighty
warrior that I was, I couldn’t resist the urge to give it a quick tug, and
would you believe it, it turned out that I was the one
the sword had been waiting for. At this point I was fairly happy about the new
gear I had acquired so far on this trip, but was becoming slightly concerned
that I had found no sign of either of the pieces of the hammer I was looking
for. Passing up the opportunity to dive into a pool of mud (doing something
like this in a place nicknamed ‘The Forest of Doom’ didn’t seem like the
smartest idea), I was then attacked by a pterodactyl.
My shiny new sword made short work of the random dinosaur. After congratulating
myself on another peerless display of combat skills, I spotted a yellow arrow
painted on the grass. Shrugging my shoulders, I followed it in the hope that it
might lead me to some clue as to the whereabouts of the hammer parts (I was
aware that this was highly unlikely, but nothing much made sense around here
anyway).
I was disappointed to arrive at a dead tree trunk, but
apparently believing this one to be more interesting than the thousands of
others around me, I examined it more closely. Aided by the Ring of Light I
looked inside and noticed that it seemed to lead to a tunnel under the ground.
Taking leave of my senses, I jumped down and duly broke my leg. Pondering the
lack of STAMINA loss, I drank the Potion of
Healing I had been saving for this kind of occasion and my leg mended
itself. Crawling along the tunnel, I eventually came to a slimy cavern
populated by a race of alien-looking humanoids, tending to coloured fungi. At
this point I was offered the chance to attack one of the vacant-eyed creatures
(seemingly a bad idea when there were so many of them), chop down some fungi
(I’m no botanist, but I was sure nothing good could come from that), or asking
to eat some of the fungi. What I was not offered was the opportunity to ignore
everything and leave via the stairs. Choosing what I hoped was the lesser of
several evils,
I chopped at a nearby fungus, choked on the expected cloud of spores, and was
then informed that there was no point staying here any longer. Le sigh.
Climbing the stairs, I found a shield in a barrel and some
gold in a chest, before entering an alcove to find more of the strange
pale-skinned humanoids. These ones, however, were aggressive and I was forced
to reduce them to puddles of coloured liquid. Continuing up the stairs, I
encountered an extremely scary-looking Fire Demon and was once again forced to
fight. For the first time, I was actually wounded in combat, but eventually the
demon was a smouldering heap on the floor and the clone warriors were kneeling
before me in supplication. Refusing
the options to wear the demon’s crown or sit on his throne, I ascended the
steps and found myself outside again. This time I was convinced that I’d missed
something important here, but the only way was onwards.
Next I came to a small stone building. Investigating, I
found a locked door which I attempted to charge down. Unfortunately I bounced
off the door and, fragile weakling that I am, was too tired to muster a second
attempt. Reluctantly, convinced that I’d missed something important (again), I
continued through the forest. Entering a small clearing, I realised I was now
in the lair of something large and scary, so naturally I stopped to search for
shinies. The large and scary wyvern swept down and attempted to start a
barbeque, but was briefly disappointed as I hacked it to bits. Finding two
items of note in its nest – a gauntlet and a ring - I decided to avoid the
obvious 50/50 chance of Bad Stuff happening and pushed on.
Further down the path I was accosted by a group of bandits,
who demanded five items from my backpack. With shiny new sword, shiny new
helmet and shiny new shield, I felt pretty good about my chances in combat so I
refused their kind offer. They had no more luck than the other denizens of the
forest however, and their bodies were left as fertiliser, minus the meagre sum
of two gold pieces.
I was less than ecstatic to emerge from the forest not long
after, knowing that I had arrived at my destination without either part of the
hammer. Unable to face the king of the dwarves (although I assume he wasn’t
expecting me and might have appreciated hearing the news of what happened to
the party who went looking for the hammer) I decided to walk back around the edge
of the woods to start all over again. Obviously it’s a one-way forest. Unfortunately
on the way I was attacked by wild hill men and my arrow-peppered
corpse was left for the crows.
Conclusion: Failure. Despite being virtually superhuman
compared to most of the evils of the forest, I found no sign whatsoever of
either part of the fabled hammer. Now I wish I’d kept a map…
Number of combats:
18
Attempt #2
Stats rolled: SKILL
8, STAMINA 20, LUCK 11
OK, this should be more challenging. I know a certain fire
demon I’ll be avoiding this time…
My shopping list this time consisted of: Potion of Healing,
Potion of Plant Control, Potion of Stillness, Potion of Insect Control, Potion
of Stillness, Holy Water, Boots of Leaping, Net of Entanglement, Armband of
Strength, Garlic Buds, Fire Capsules, and Nose Filters.
Taking a slightly different route to last time, I soon heard
a cry for help from somewhere off the path. Investigating, I found a man
dressed in dark robes and a mask, who had apparently got himself caught in a bear trap.
Helping him out (well, what I could see of his face was trustworthy) we had a
brief chat and he wandered off in search of his brother. Only then did I notice
that he’d made off with all 1 of my gold pieces!
My next encounter was a small goblin sitting at the
roadside. Confident that I could handle the situation if he became hostile, I
attempted to question him. Unfortunately this seemed to upset him, and he
metamorphosed into a large spiky shapechanger. Sadly he did not give me a
chance to placate or trick
him; the ensuing combat did not go well for me, and my second attempt ended
under his raking claws.
Conclusion: Failure. Of the abject variety. My poor
SKILL score made this kind of ending inevitable I guess. I obviously hadn’t
learned my lesson from the first attempt – trying to be nice to anyone in the
Forest of Doom is a daft idea…
Number of combats:
1
Attempt #3
Stats rolled: SKILL
10, STAMINA 19, LUCK 11
Much better. Maybe I’ll go back and teach that shapechanger
a lesson…
As I barely had a chance to get started last time, I chose
the same items from Yaztromo’s selection: Potion of Healing, Potion of Plant
Control, Potion of Stillness, Potion of Insect Control, Potion of Stillness,
Holy Water, Boots of Leaping, Net of Entanglement, Armband of Strength, Garlic
Buds, Fire Capsules, and Nose Filters.
My first encounter was with a talking crow. Being a bird
lover, I stopped for a chat and then paid a gold piece for its advice. When I
mentioned the goblins I was looking for, it directed me northwards. Deciding to
take the crow’s word for it (crows are good
omens, right?), I continued in the direction indicated. Soon I heard voices up
ahead. Wondering if it could really be this easy to find the hammer-stealing
goblins, I drew my sword and waited. Sadly the creatures that showed up were
hobgoblins, and a search of their corpses yielded a meagre amount of gold, some
maggot-infested biscuits, a flute and a necklace made from mouse skulls. Obviously
these items would be vital to my quest, so I gathered them up and stored them
in my pack.
Soon afterwards I noticed a large hole by the side of the
path, and was warned that ‘some huge creature’ had left a load of slime all
over the place. Taking leave of my senses entirely, I
made my way down to the bottom and landed carefully on my backside. The
resident Sting Worm took exception to my visit, however (those bones over there
obviously belonged to travelling salesmen), and I was forced to defend myself.
I took a nasty beating but eventually prevailed, helping myself to some more
gold pieces and a potion of some kind. Trusting that the potion would be my
reward for overcoming a tough monster, I quickly gulped it down (sipping is for
sissies). I was pleased to discover that it was a Potion of Weapon Skill, which
would last for the next two combats. Wondering if I could avoid any more combats
between now and the potential fire demon/wyvern up ahead, I clambered out of
the slimy lair and continued on.
The next point of interest along the path was a cave,
occupied by an ogre and a small, caged creature. Considering my options, I decided that the
sensible thing to do was to throw a rock at the ogre (What? I don’t like
ogres). Of course I missed by a mile, and therefore decided to dash headlong
into the cave instead. Slaying the ogre was a straightforward task. As I looked
around the cave, the caged creature seemed to become agitated, so I looked
closer and realised he was a goblin, with a shiny rod hanging around his neck.
Promising! Freeing the goblin from his prison (sadly there was no option to
shiv him where he stood), I was unsurprised when the little wretch tried to
kill me. He failed, of course, and I was rewarded with the handle of the
dwarfish warhammer. Now I was getting somewhere! I also found a silver box
which emitted noxious fumes upon
opening – however rather than simply run out of the cave I decided to stay put,
fumble in my pack for my Nose Filters, insert them into my nostrils, wait
around for a while until the fumes dissipated, and then leave the cave.
The next attempt on my life came from two pygmies who fired
darts at me from blowpipes. They missed, and I couldn’t be bothered chasing
them off into whatever traps they hoped to lead me into, so I continued
onwards. Next was a swarm of killer bees, which were repelled by the handy
Potion of Insect Control I kept for such an occasion (sadly its effects did not
extend to being able to command the bees to fetch the hammer for me, or form a
frightening travelling companion).
I soon came to a river, and chose to use the rickety old
bridge rather than wading through the unknown horrors of the water. Surprisingly
there was no hint of the bridge collapsing – not so much as an ominous creak –
and I made it across safely. Setting down for the night, I was awoken by the
howl of wolves
and was forced to slay three of them. Happily I suffered no further ill effects
from the wounds I sustained and went back to sleep.
The next day I came across a fully furnished, but empty,
hut. Wondering at how this isolated pocket of civilisation came to exist within
the deadly Forest of Doom, I thought I’d investigate – and by investigate I
mean loot whatever I could. Lifting a heavy chest, I was able to smash it on
the floor, to discover a large blue egg of some kind. The egg then exploded,
injuring me badly. Rather than stay in the hut and rest for a while, I decided
to immediately limp northwards along the path. Reaching an area with large
boulders scattered around the path, I was alarmed to see one of them rocking
from side to side. Deciding against further investigation this time, I hurried
past. Further down the path, a tiny grey cloud
appeared out of nowhere and zapped me with lightning. O_o
Continuing on, I arrived at a familiar stone building. Once
again lacking the key, I was forced to attempt to break it down again. This
time I was successful, and I descended the steps within, lit a
conveniently-placed candle, and found myself in a room which could only be described
as a crypt. Annoyingly I was out of luck again, however, as I required Dust of
Levitation to lift the stone slab. Anything hidden behind two obstacles (the
door and the slab) such as this could only be important, and given the lack of
any way to head back through the forest to try and find the elusive item, I
briefly considered giving up there and then. In the end I decided to continue
on, with the intention of using the ‘go back to the other end of the forest and
start again’ option so beloved of many previous adventurers.
So on I went, not bothering with the wyvern’s lair and
giving the bandits some gold to shut them up. I walked into the middle of
Stonebridge, immediately wondered why I had bothered doing do without the quest
items required, and wandered off again. This time I survived the trip back
around the forest, and eventually found myself back at Yaztromo’s tower.
Strangely the wizard did not recognise me, and I had to
explain myself all over again. I bought a potion of anti-poison with the meagre
funds I had remaining, and departed for the forest once more. Heading
westwards, I ignored the yells from the trapped thief and made a beeline for
the friendly shapechanger. I immediately drew my sword and was able to avenge
my former self, but not without taking a few wounds in the process. Sadly he
had no possessions to speak of. I refused the opportunity to eat some mushrooms
I found nearby, doubting that they contained any Dust of Levitation.
Onwards I went, waving cheerfully to the ungrateful
barbarian as the vultures ate his eyeballs, and crossed the river, again
choosing the path of least getting-wet-ness. As was traditional by this point,
I was rudely awoken from my slumber in the middle of the night. Fortunately the
garlic buds I was carrying were enough to repel the vampire bats and I slept
soundly, not to mention bravely, for the rest of the night.
The next morning I was minding my own business, wending my
way down a rocky path, when a couple of scruffy, beardy blokes leapt out from
behind a boulder and stuck an arrow in me. Incensed, I chopped them into small
pieces, and looted a silver key from the remains. Later in the day, a gnome
offered me some information in exchange for some treasure. I forked over the
wild boar’s nose ring, and he told me what I already knew – that there was a crypt
nearby containing a skeleton. Glad that I was apparently on the right path, I
continued on my way.
I soon came across yet another hut (this was an incredibly
civilised Forest of Doom) where I sensibly decided to grab a mysterious vase
containing an ‘eerie blackness’ and give it a good shake. When this produced no
interesting results, I smashed it on the floor and the whole hut started to
vibrate. Fortunately I was carrying a Potion of Stillness (for this exact
situation, to be sure) and drank it while the hut fell apart around me. Never
let it be said that I fled from a collapsing building.
Finally I arrived back at the crypt that had foiled me on
two previous occasions. Smugly producing the silver key from my pack, I
unlocked the door and descended into the darkness. I then sprinkled the Dust of
Levitation on the stone slab, which lifted to reveal a hostile ghoul. Happily I
was equipped for this eventuality as well, and splashed holy water
on the creature until it crawled into a corner, where I left it sobbing
uncontrollably. In the coffin I found what I was hoping for – the head of the
sacred hammer!
Leaving the crypt behind, I made a beeline for my final
destination, as I now had both pieces of the dwarfs’ precious weapon. Avoiding
the wyvern’s lair, I meekly met the bandits’ demands for treasure – none but
the hammer itself would do me any good beyond this point, so fighting them would
have been a pointless risk. At last I emerged from the forest, and was given a
hero’s welcome by the dwarfs of Stonebridge. Gillibran handed over a shiny
helmet and enough jewels and gems to make me extremely rich, and make me wonder
why he didn’t just spend it all on a better hammer than the piece of junk I’d
just handed over. I guess I should have been relieved
that he didn’t insist on me marrying his lovely bearded daughter. Ho well –
apparently the people of the village were saved, which was more than could be
said for the trolls.
Conclusion: Success! Not so bad once you know the route - you can safely ignore everything else and just go for the items you need.
Number of combats:
13
Writing: A little
disappointing. The descriptions are extremely basic and the environments
sparsely detailed. This meant that when choosing which path to take, there was
no reason to choose one direction over another, because they are simply
described as ‘east’ or ‘west’. In a dark dungeon setting this is forgivable,
but in a rich outdoor environment like a forest it seems lazy. Even after playing
through several times, nothing about the writing really stands out as being
memorable. Also the main hero seems to be the most shallow character
imaginable, with no background to speak of, and no motivation for taking on the
quest beyond the fact that it might bag him a few shinies. The book is also
lacking any kind of big boss or final encounter, so the ending was a bit flat.
All of this made it quite difficult to immerse myself in the
story and contributed to this review taking much longer than the previous ones.
Writing: 1/5
Artwork: A bit of
a mixed bag – the interior illustrations are extremely detailed but some are
almost too detailed – for instance the arm wrestling fellow’s muscles! I also
felt that a couple of the more significant monsters in the book could have been
depicted better.
Artwork: 2/5
Design: The
layout of the forest allows a broader range of paths through the adventure, and
at any given point there are four or five different branches you could be on.
This does of course mean that it’s very easy to miss the quest items. There is
a vague true path, which involves making sure that you pass three vital
locations on your way through. Everything else is strictly optional. I quite
like the fact that the items you can buy at the start of the adventure can all
be used to resolve certain situations later on, but it’s a shame that you are
never asked which item you would like to try – you are told what the correct
item is and you simply answer yes or no. This removes any kind of
decision-making form the situation and makes it feel less interactive overall.
In such an open environment and without any time pressure to
speak of, I frequently found myself slightly frustrated by the text telling me
that I decide to ignore a certain path and simply head northwards. The game is
structured in such a way that prevents you exploring the whole forest in one
adventure – this is perhaps fair enough as it adds replay value, and most games
are designed this way – but drawing attention to the fact that you are unable
to explore certain paths for no particular in-game reason seems like a poor way
to handle it.
Design: 2/5
Fairness: Apart
from a solitary goblin, all other direct combat is avoidable, and while there
are a few fights which can be very tough, there is nothing that an average
adventurer wouldn’t stand a chance at winning against. The correct route will
probably not be found on the first attempt but the ability to go back to the
beginning and start again means that you should manage it if you can survive
long enough. There is some argument for not taking this option too seriously,
however, as the encounters are not set up to cope with the fact that you may
have already been there earlier, and you could in theory end up with several
hammer heads or shafts…
Fairness: 5/5
Cheating index: 0
Razaaks
Average enemy stats
Successful path
13 encounters, SKILL 7.0, STAMINA 6.9
Entire book
68 encounters, SKILL 6.5, STAMINA 6.1
Instant death
paragraphs: 4
Any player can win no
matter how weak initial dice rolls – If you find the best route, a single
goblin and a few lucky rolls are all that stand between you and victory, TRUE
Final thoughts
I didn’t enjoy this gamebook as much as the previous two – I
struggled to stay engaged with the lacklustre story and sparsely described
environment. The book isn’t entirely without its highlights though, and it’s
worth a go if you want a book that isn’t too taxing.
Final score: 3/10
Links
Buy
The Forest of Doom on Amazon.co.uk
Playthroughs from other bloggers
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Playthroughs from other bloggers
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Fighting Dantasy
Seven Fourteen Seven
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